Raj Somaiya - Biog
Raj Somaiya is an esteemed Events Architect and CEO of Silverfox Events who has dominated the events industry globally, managing events in Dubai, Bali and Paris. After thirty years in industry, Raj has established himself as an expert and mentor in the field. Starting out from selling balloon bouquets with his late mother; Raj now runs high-profile weddings for people of all faiths as well as bar mitzvahs, birthday parties, memorials and corporate events in the UK and internationally. He is famous for his groundbreaking design ideas, bespoke wedding creations and impeccably high standards of food, beverages and service. Raj has an exclusive and high net worth client base many of whom are personal friends, including the CEOs of Patak’s, Tilda Rice, Authentic Foods and B&M.
Raj’s media career took off in 2014 after the release of his documentary, “My Big Fat Asian Weddings” on Channel 4. Since then, he has been involved in a number of shows including “Lady C and the Castle” and “The Real Housewives of Cheshire” on ITV, where he organised a 50th birthday party for his friend Seema Malhotra.
Raj’s big break was being a judge on “The Ultimate Wedding Planner” in 2023, airing on BBC2 for six episodes. In working with big media personalities and assisting with the orchestration of the show, Raj found his renewed passion for the media and production industry, immersing himself in the opportunity and proving to be very popular with the viewers.
After crafting himself as a spokesperson for the events industry, he recently featured on “The Apprentice - You’re Fired” on BBC2, hosted by Tom Allen, which raised his profile and positioned him as an expert in his field and a business mentor. It also showed off his brilliant sense of humour and immaculate taste in clothes!
Raj’s philosophy is simple: “start with a blank sheet and everything is possible!”. Over the years Raj has had incredible opportunities to create breathtaking avant-garde occasions with his most extravagant event being a 50th Birthday party at Palais Garnier, Paris. In bringing a contemporary Mancunian twist to an iconic Marie-Antoinette theme, Raj successfully brought the Manchester flair to the royally inspired event by getting Liam Gallagher to perform. Raj’s experience also lends itself to overcoming extraordinary challenges such as ensuring décor was set up on a yacht deck off the coast of St Tropez by actually craning the infrastructure in! Another incredible time was when he had 24 hours to set up a flawless dinner show under the Burj Khalifa in Dubai!
He also owns a restaurant called “GupShup” in Hale, which translated from Hindi, means chit-chat or gossip! It is one of the best known and most popular Indian restaurants in the Northwest, being one of Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury’s favourites. It opened just before Covid to huge critical acclaim.
Raj runs both businesses with Sheetal, his wife of 30 years, and they live happily with Raj’s father and their three children in Hale, Cheshire.